On Discipline And Love: Albert Mora And The Many Sides Of A Double Bass Player

Albert Mora was born in Cuba, in 1998. Four years later his father, a double bass player himself, introduced Albert in the world of music. His devotion to music in general and particularly to the double bass has only grown ever since, giving him the strength to overcome all sorts of political and economical problems and to carry on a career as an international musician.

(GF)Tell us about your background.

(AM) When I was thirteen, I emigrated from Cuba to Venezuela to start studying music at the José Luis Paz Conservatory, under the tutorship of my father, Luis Mora Torres who already worked as a bass teacher there. About two months later, I entered the children's orchestra of the conservatory, where I first experience being on a stage.

(GF) What about your influences?

(AM) My first influence came from my father and from one of my double bass teachers, Elvis Martinez. In the seven years that I have been immersed in the study of music, I have developed a great admiration for Jazz and Cuban music. They have become my favourite musical styles and I want to continue studying them. I was also influenced by musicians like: Cucho Valdez, Paquito de Rivera, Carlitos del Puerto, John Patitucci, Chick Corea and Alain Pérez.

(GF) You left your country very young. How was the experience of being a career in a foreign country?

(AM) Thanks to my passion to music, I have the discipline to practice daily and because of that, many doors had been opened to me. I actually became one of the most demanded bassists in my area and I had the opportunity to be part of several popular orchestras of great reputation in the country, such as: Super Combo Los Tropicales, Argenis Carruyo and his Orchestra and Orquesta Los Blancos. I am also part of several small jazz bands within the city and now I´m part of The French Alliance of Maracaibo, which gave the pleasure of working with many international artists.

(GF) Tell us about your current project,The Bass Project.

(AM) It is about the audio and video recording of several universal music standards interpreted by me on the double bass and electric bass. Oscar Velázquez, a good friend of mine, with whom I began to share some original ideas, helped me to create it. Since the beginning of my musical studies, I always liked the idea of ​​playing various popular melodies with the double bass, so I created a small repertoire, where I included pieces such as Lágrimas Negras and Autumn Leaves. We are now working on the audio and video recording of various tracks and our main goal with The Bass Project is to change the perspective that we have on the double bass as a solo instrument. It should also be seen as an instrument with which you can play melodies, as a violin, saxophone or a trumpet.

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Written by Geisa Fernandes - Brasil / Rio de Janeiro

The repertoire of this jazz singer and awarded songwriter from Rio de Janeiro reveals influences of Brazilian popular music, the French chanson and Latin American rhythms, but most of all, Geisa Fernandes is a jazz singer. Billie Holiday aficionada (back in college folksused to call her "Lady Doc"), this PhD holder and Comics researcher wasaformer vocalist of several bands in São Paulo.

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